Better yield and better NUE in garlic crop

Haifa’s Nutri Haitech™ offers comprehensive solutions for precision nutrition of crops in the open field, designed to agriculture more sustainable and efficient, reduce waste and pollution, and of course, increase yields.
During the 2023 growth season, Haifa Soth America carried out a trial to set a Nutri Haitech™ solution for garlic.  The trial revealed the benefits of combined nutrition of Multicote™Agri and Poly-Feed™ Stim in garlic:
  • +25% marketable yield
  • Reduced application rates
  • Labor saving

The trial was aimed to set an efficient alternative to the conventional fertilization practice, which consists of base application of granular fertilizers, followed by 9 fertigation applications of soluble fertilizers.

The Haifa program combined Multicote™ Agri controlled release fertilizer and Poly-Feed™ Stim – NPK formulae enriched with micronutrients and biostimulants.



Trial details
Location: IPACER agricultural research institute, Rio Paranaíba, Brazil
Crop: Garlic of Ito variety
Soil texture: 60% clay
Planting date: 20.4.23
Harvest: 12.9.23

 
The following table summarizes the trial treatments.   
No Fertilizers Total N-P2O5-K2O Applications
1 Base: conventional
Nutrigation: conventional
298 1200 501 10
2 Base: Multicote™ Agri1
Nutrigation: Poly-Feed™ Stim2
245
(82%)
631
(53%)
374
(75%)
6
3 Base: Multicote™ Agri3
Nutrigation: None
200
(67%)
480
(40%)
320
(64%)
1
The figures in brackets show % of conventional treatments.

1. Multicote™ Agri 9-24-13+2.5Ca+1.5Mg+1.5S+ME
2. Poly-Feed Stim Spark 12-42-12 at 7 DAP
    Poly-Feed™ Stim Enduro 19-19-19 at 30 DAP & 70 DAP
    Poly-Feed™Stim Impact 4-15-37 at 84 DAP and 98 DAP

3. Multicote™ Agri 10-24-16+1Ca+1.5Mg+1S+ME


Each treatment was tested on two blocks, each one consisting of 2 beds with 2 double rows of plants (1.8m) and 10m long.


Results
Plant nutritional status: mid-season leaf analysis showed that despite the lower fertilization rates Haifa treatments resulted in nutrient concentrations which were equal or even higher than the conventional plot.
    Conventional
Multicote™ Agri
+
Poly-Feed™ Stim
Multicote™ Agri
N g/kg 45.9 46.2 45.8
P 4.4 4.2 4.2
K 32.2 29.1 30.6
S 8.5 7.6 6.8
Ca 6.7 5.6 6.2
Mg 2.9 3.1 3.4
Cu Mg/kg 27.0 27.6 28.8
Fe 124.5 123.0 167.1
Mn 24.1 31.9 36.9
Zn 27.3 30.9 28.3
B 23.8 37.7 50.1





Yield
Total yield and marketable yield (ton/ha)


With considerably lower application rates and with less field operations the combined treatment of Multicote™ Agri and Poly-Feed™ Stim resulted in 25% increase in marketable yield.
The increase with Multicote™ treatment was lower (11%), but this was obtained with much lower application rates, plus the advantage of single application per season.



Two months before the harvest, Haifa South America arranged a field visit to show growers the trial. The participants were very impressed by the fair growth results obtained with reduced application rates and rated the lower number of applications as a great benefit.

Get professional tips for garlic crop fertilization